Draft rigging for railway cars



June 7, 1932.

C. J. NASH DRAFT RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed June 1'7, 1927 WI] Mb j I I l H v a Patented June 7, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ILLINOIS DRAFT RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS Application filed June 17,

The invention relates to means for securing together the drawbar and the drawbar extension or yoke, and to the method of adapting existing drawbars for the use of i such improved securing means. Among the been secured to the objects of the invention are to provide a strong and easily applied means for securing these parts together, and to readily adapt existing drawbars, which have commonly extension by means of rivets, for the detachable connection herein shown and described.

The invention consists in a structure as hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the yoke, a detail of the drawbar butt being shown;

Fig. 2 is a detail bottom plan view of the yoke and drawbar butt;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the attaching key; and

Fig. 5 is a detail section of a drawbar to be adapted for use in connection with the improvement, and of a templet used in the process of its adaptation.

The yoke 10 is of any preferred form, being shown as adapted for the use of tandem gears. The butt 11 of the drawbar 12 enters between the upper and lower longitudinal members of the yoke, as usual, and these members are preferably tied together at their forward ends by side plates or webs, as 13.

The top and bottom members of the yoke 10, and the drawbar butt 11 are vertically apertured for the reception of a key 14, which is inserted from below and secured in place, as by a cotter pin 15 inserted through lugs 16, 17, which depend from the lower member of the yoke 10, and are located one upon each side of the key aperture.

The key 14 is preferably provided with a head 18, which limits its upward movement, and which is preferably transversely recessed, as shown at 19, to fit upon the cotter 15.

The body of the key 14 is oblong in cross section, its shorter sides being rounded, as shown, and its longer sides being provided 1927. Serial No. 199,483.

UNIVERSAL DRAFT GEAR with longitudinal ribs 20, one on each side,

the outer faces of which are rounded. The apertures 21 through the yoke members and drawbar butt conform in shape to the key, their longer diameters being on the center line of draft. The apertures in the yoke are somewhat larger than the aperture in the drawbar, in order that the drawbar may swing laterally.

The more common practice heretofore has been to secure the yoke to the drawbar butt by means of vertical rivets, the spacing of these rivets being standardized. Such attachment is, of course, permanent, and in the event of the breaking of the yoke, which is the more vulnerable element, replacement could be effected only by the expenditure of considerable labor in chipping 01f theyrivet heads. A large number of drawbars thus attached to the yoke are now in service, and most of them will continue in use for a long period. The present invention provides means for readily adapting these existing drawbars for the later approved practice of detachably securing parts together by means of a vertical key, and also without weakening the drawbar, by the formation of an additional aperture, as is necessary when the attaching key is horizontally disposed. To this end a key is provided of a fore and aft width corresponding to the distance between the remote sides of the rivet holes. These two holes are readily united by passing a drill through the stock of the drawbar butt intervening between them, and the work is simplified, and at the same time an aperture for a ribbed key is provided by using a drill of greater diameter than the rivet holes, and of greater diameter than the distance between these holes. After this drilling operation the ridges left at the four points of intersection of the larger with the two smaller holes are shipped away to straighten up the side walls of the enlarged aperture immediately forward and back of the enlargement.

In order to simplify the last described redrilling operation and to insure accuracy a templet 22 is employed. This templet comprises a steel plate, to which the numeral 22..

is applied, apertured to receive the drill which is to be used, and a pair of pins 23, 24 fixed in the plate and projecting from the lower face thereof. These pins are of a size to fit snugly in the rivet apertures and are spaced apart, as are they. The adjacent faces ofthe pins are longitudinally grooved as shown at 25, 26 to complete the drillaper:

ture in the plate. The pins are of sufficient length to project into the rivet aper- 1 tures, thereby guiding'the drill as it passes into the stock of the drawbar. The plate may be dispensed withybut when used insures accuracy in positioning the pins.

By providing the key with longitudinal side ribs, its strength is substantially increased without materially increasing its weight, and the size of the aperture for its reception is less than wouldbe required for a key of uniform thickness and o-f'equal' strength.. The weakening of the drawbar butt :and. he yoke members by aperturing is thereby reduced to a minimum.

Draft and buffing pressures are transmitted from the drawbar to the yoke not only by the forward and rearward margin of the key,

but also by the forward and rearward faces Y of the ribs. v

Iclaim asmy invention:

1. In combination, a drawbar, a yoke adapted to receive the butt of the drawbar between its top and bottom members, a longitudinally ribbed key for securing the drawbar and yoke together, such elements being provided with registering vertical apertures corresponding in shape with the key, the

apertures in the yoke being larger than the aperture in the drawbar, whereby lateral swaying of the drawbar is permitted.

2. A draft rigging key having longitudinal ribs, the forward and rearward margins of the key and the forward and rearward sides of the ribs being rounded to form hearing surfaces. 7

3.-In'comb1nat1on, a drawbar, a yoke adapted to receive the butt of the drawbar between its top and bottom members, a key for securing the drawbar and yoke together and having a'rounded longitudinal ribon each side intermediate of the margins thereof, the draw bar and yoke being provided withregistering vertical apertures corresponding in shape with the key.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES J. NASH; 

